Jar Cats by Labu Studio

Gatti Barattolo di Labu Studio

I'm Gaia, a few years ago, during Covid, I started a small business dedicated to sustainable craftsmanship
I create items that are completely handmade and often customized on commission.
A very popular item are my key boxes and jar cats.
All my items are made using mainly recycled material and eco resin.
Through my works I want to convey a "cozy" feeling, a little dreamy and sometimes childish, to break the frenzy and anguish that can overwhelm us during this super frenetic life.

I mainly use sustainable materials such as reclaimed wood, branches and Jesmonite, a non-toxic eco resin.
For the latter, it is necessary to make moulds beforehand, because like plaster, Jesmonite needs to be cast to take on the desired shape.

First I have to design the prototype,
I usually start by creating a draft on the iPad, looking for the shape, use and aesthetics that best represent what my mind imagines I can create.
Once the draft is ready, thanks to the use of my sculpting skills, I create the prototype in plasticine.

This is the slightly more complex part.
You really have to be resourceful and super careful when making the molds.
I learned it thanks to a special makeup course, during which they taught us how to make molds of two-dimensional elements like fake wounds or things like that.
Armed with a lot of patience I study how to make the silicone mold as clean and precise as possible
Sometimes a plaster support is also necessary, to avoid wasting too much silicone and to give greater support to the mold.

Once the time required for the silicone to catalyse has elapsed, we move on to the first test casting in Jesmonite.
Thanks to this I can understand if the mold came out well in every single detail
Here you can see a comparison between the prototype (grey) and the first jar cat made of eco resin (white)

The mold came out beautifully!
Now comes the most creative moment of this journey: customizing the cats.
Initially I developed 5 different cats, in order to show the customer the real customization potential of my jars.
Below I have created many on commission, this has allowed me to listen to the stories of many people and the strong bond they have with their pets.
Who knows, maybe one day I could make a dog version too :)
Thank you!
Gaia